Dennis Anderson Lecture 2020: The Path to a Net Zero UK

Chris Stark, Chief Executive of the UK's Climate Change Committee, delivers the 2020 Dennis Anderson Lecture, hosted by Energy Futures lab in conjunction with the Imperial Centre for Energy Policy and Technology (ICEPT). Chris offers a deep dive into the CCC's latest analysis and the recommendations of the Sixth Carbon Budget, setting out a path to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The event is chaired by Professor Robert Gross, Director of the UK Energy Research Centre and ICEPT.
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[@masterbarnard]

Fantastic presentation from Chris Stark. Thank you for making this recording available.

[@justinrobinson3423]

Great lecture, really well articulated explanation of the UK's path to net zero.

[@kaya051285]

The big problem with net Zero is seasonal heating. You need to plan a grid for the once a generation winter
People say heat pumps but those heat pumps would all revert to resistance heating during the once a generation cold snap. And if its windless week which you have to plan for as blackouts = frozen dead people then you need 100% gas fired backup
Well 37 million homes (in 2050) x 3KW average winter heat need = 111 GW for just homes. Up that by 50% to take into account other buildings like schools hospitals shops etc and you have 166 GW plus normal winter eletricity needs of some 40GW plus electrified transport of circa 20GW = 226 GW plus a 10% margin = 251GW
The UK would need a grid capable of transporting and generating that much energy. That means 250GW of thermal plants like Gas or Biomass. The UK isn't going to build an additional 200 x 1GW gas plants as backup which is what you need if you electrify heating. Likewise the UK isn't going to expand the grid 4 x to handle all this power
To gave a sanity check ask what is the power and generating capacity of Norway which is already more or less 100% electrified heating. Well they have capacity of about 30GW for a population 12x smaller. So 30 x 12 = 360GW and my UK estimate qas 251GW. I was probably too Conservative but you can see we are in the right ballpark
It's not impossible to do heat pumps
But how likely is it the UK will build 250-350GW of thermal generation and a grid 4-5x the peak power?
Probably much more wise is to use nuclear district heating grids and do seasonal heating with nuclear. No windless weeks to worry about
Leave the north sea for eletricity generation to power a significant portion of Europe not to heat the UK
Wind for electricity
Nuclear for heating

[@timcooper7028]

With the new heat pumps they still work during a cold snap. Using a gas fire as a supplement, not replacement, is sensible, and uses only a small amount of gas. Heat pumps exist which are good to -30C which will always work in the UK, however the ones that work to -15C are cheaper.. at the cost of a small puff of gas fire.

[@ianbardon8581]

What a joke, I can't even pay my e.on
Electricity bill online from overseas.

[@ianbardon8581]

Net zero will never happen

[@iareid8255]

At 0.48 into the video there is a picture of wind genertaors. For the last two weeks in the U.K. wind has been producing a very tiny fraction of our needs (As of 23rd April 13:35 wind production is 1.16 Gwatts, 3.48% of demand, out of a fleet with a capacity well over 20 Gwatts). Build far more of them and it won'r be such a tiny fraction but it will be a small fraction.
These academics don't live in the real world and put all their ideas into computers which 'model' what happens, maybe? How many of these academics have actually worked in the power industry and know first hand of the technicalities and problems there are.
An old engineering saying, those that can do, those that can't teach.
Elsewhere on You Tube today there is another video saying that the cost of net zero, according to the Committee for Climate Change is 891 billion pounds, the treasury calculates 3 trillion pounds, possibly more. Being government probably more is realistic.
And all this for a climate emergency that isn't! None of the official data shows any worrying increasing trends in climate parameters.